Inpatient Rotations

Cardiovascular ICU - Christopher Wilson, PharmD, BCCCP

During this rotation, the resident will become an integral part of the cardiothoracic surgery team and participate on daily multidisciplinary rounds. The resident will be expected to build on the basic knowledge gained during other patient care rotations, while focusing on cardiac and critical care issues. Residents will gain experience understanding hemodynamic monitoring, hemostasis, mechanical circulatory support including extracorporal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), pharmacotherapy and disease states as it relates to the cardiothoracic surgery patient. Residents will be expected to give a patient case presentation and participate in a journal club discussion with the cardiothoracic surgery team while on this rotation.

Drug Diversion - Amanda Harris, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, BCCP; Ashley Williams, PharmD, MBA

Drug Diversion is an elective learning experience at Erlanger Health System. This rotation is designed to provide PGY1 residents with insight into the process behind drug diversion investigations within a large health system. The resident will participate in the drug diversion review process by conducting chart reviews of hospital staff from a list derived from anomalous usage reports. The resident will develop an understanding of how to utilize available technology to track and evaluate usage of medications within the health system.

Emergency Medicine - Jeffery Galyon, PharmD, BCPS, BCEMP; Tabitha Brown, PharmD, BCPS. BCCCP

The Emergency Medicine rotation will expose residents to key clinical, communication, and teaching skills utilized by clinical pharmacists in the Emergency Department (ED) setting. Residents will learn ED processes and develop an understanding of the pharmacologic management of acute and emergent disease states and traumatic injuries. Residents will respond to emergency situations including acute trauma and ACLS events, supervision of pharmacy technician medication reconciliation, medication order review, drug therapy monitoring, medication preparation and delivery, and provision of drug information to ED staff. The resident will have daily interactions with a multidisciplinary team which will help enhance the resident’s teaching skills.

Hospital Practice - Amanda Harris, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, BCCP

Residents will gain longitudinal experience with the distributive functions of hospital pharmacy practice. Residents will become familiar with the medication-use system, medication and departmental policies and procedures and the skills required to serve as a clinical pharmacist during staffing requirements. Residents will also be involved with medication-use improvement projects. Residents are required to staff every fourth weekend and one four-hour evening shift per week.

Infectious Diseases - Cyle White, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP; Mitchell Thelen, PharmD

The purpose of the ID rotation is to help the resident develop expert skills and competency in the care of infectious diseases and appropriate use of antimicrobials. The activities are designed to expose the resident to the diagnosis and pathophysiology of various infections. The resident will effectively design and recommend appropriate empiric and definitive treatment regimens, including monitoring of antimicrobial therapies. The resident will also gain experience through our antimicrobial stewardship program to promote appropriate and judicious use of antimicrobial agents. The majority of the resident’s experience on this rotation will focus on bedside rounding with an ID consult service and performing hospital-wide antimicrobial stewardship. There is one ID teaching team consisting of an attending physician, medical interns, PGY2 and PGY3 medical residents, medical students, pharmacy students and a clinical pharmacy specialist. Pharmacy residents and other healthcare professionals in training also participate when assigned to the ID teaching team.

Internal Medicine - Brittany N. White, PharmD, BCPS; Emily Goodwin, PharmD, BCPS

Internal medicine is a core rotation that will expose residents to management of pharmacotherapy through active participation on daily rounds with a multidisciplinary team comprised of an attending physician, medical residents and students, and pharmacy students. Residents will develop a mastery of evaluation and management of chronic disease states as well as acute critical illnesses. In addition, residents will provide pharmacy anticoagulation and pharmacokinetic consult services, medical resident and pharmacy student education, and assist in various projects include medication use evaluations and drug information consults.

Leadership - Amanda Harris, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, BCCP; Emily Goodwin, PharmD, BCPS; Ashley Williams, PharmD, MBA

Leadership is an elective learning experience at Erlanger. The resident will be expected to leave the rotation experience with a better understanding of the behind the scenes activities that provide the framework for the pharmacy department and the interdepartmental interactions that lead to success of the healthcare system. The learning experience will enable the learner to apply knowledge in any pharmacy practice setting to improve leadership skills.

Management - Amanda Harris, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, BCCP

Management is offered as a mini-rotation (2 weeks) and will provide the resident with experience in attending multidisciplinary meetings and activities concerning the role of pharmacy across the Erlanger Health System. Residents will gain experience in all aspects of pharmacy management, which may include organizing meeting agendas, presenting material at multidisciplinary meetings, and exposure to 403 pharmacy services during this rotation.

Medical Intensive Care - Jessica Briscoe, PharmD, BCCCP: Tia Collier, PharmD, BCCCP

During this rotation, residents will care for patients in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) and participate in daily evaluation and assessment of patient pharmacotherapeutic needs. Residents will be expected to participate in daily rounds and will become integrated members of the multiprofessional team including physicians, physician residents, nurses, respiratory therapists, occupational and physical therapists, and dietitians. Residents will also have opportunities to participate in medical emergencies including cardiac arrests and rapid sequence intubations Residents will gain experience taking care of complicated patients requiring renal replacement therapy and will write formal pharmacokinetic evaluations for patients on this service. Topic discussions and journal article evaluation will be incorporated into the rotation schedule.

Neonatology - Renee Hughes, PharmD, BCPPS

The Neonatology rotation is an elective experience at Children’s Hospital at Erlanger. The majority of the rotation will focus on rounding with the neonatology service, pharmacokinetic consults, and parenteral nutrition monitoring. Each inpatient neonatology team consists of an attending physician, nurse practitioner, dietician, medical residents, and pharmacist. This rotation will help the resident develop competency in the care of neonatal patients and medication administration barriers in neonates. The resident will be exposed to the diagnosis and pathophysiology of various diseases and disease states.

Nutrition Support - Breanna Carter, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP; Christopher Wilson, PharmD, BCCCP; Jessica Briscoe, PharmD, BCCCP

Nutrition Support is a required longitudinal learning experience at Erlanger Health System. The clinical pharmacy specialist is responsible for all adult parenteral nutrition consults. This includes evaluation for appropriate use, writing parenteral nutrition orders, and monitoring labs and nutritional status of the patient. The residents will participate in a two-week Nutrition Support Bootcamp to prepare them to function as a member of the Nutrition Support Team throughout the residency program. After the Bootcamp, residents will be responsible for completing daily parenteral nutrition consults. Residents will also participate in weekly multidisciplinary nutrition support rounds.

Oncology - Bea Turner, PharmD, BCPS

The Oncology rotation is an elective, four-week learning experience at Erlanger Health System. The rotation incorporates patient populations from two outpatient infusion centers and the inpatient oncology unit. The Baroness Infusion Center is comprised of thirty-six chairs and provides chemotherapy and non-chemotherapy infusion services. The Baroness Infusion Center pharmacy also compounds chemotherapy for patients on the inpatient oncology unit. Erlanger Gynecologic Oncology also provides infusion services to patients with ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancers. The clinical pharmacy specialist works directly with oncologists, hematologists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants to optimize pharmaceutical patient care. Routine responsibilities include: ensuring safe and effective medication use for patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings, formulation and review of chemotherapy treatment plans, addressing formal consults for non-formulary drug requests, providing patient education, furnishing drug information and education to healthcare professionals upon request, participating in quality improvement projects, personnel training for hazardous drug handling, and developing and implementing new policies and procedures.

General Pediatrics - Andrea Gerwin, PharmD, BCPPS

The resident will gain an understanding of medication issues specifically related to the care of pediatric patients. During this rotation, the resident will also be exposed to various disease states including neurosurgical, pulmonary, cardiac, general medicine, orthopedic, and trauma patients. Pediatric patients often have unique conditions uncommon in adult populations. The patients will be followed closely by the resident and daily activities will include monitoring medications, labs, sedation scores, vital signs, and other information relevant to appropriate medication use. The resident will become familiar with developmental pharmacology as well as age-appropriate medication dosing. Plans and issues with medication therapy will be discussed on rounds with the interdisciplinary team and with the preceptor. Recommendations will be made when appropriate and education will be provided to the team when necessary. Educational activities include regular topic discussions with the preceptor or ICU team, daily attendance at Morning Report, weekly attendance of Grand Rounds, precepting students, and one patient case presentation to be given to the clinical pharmacy staff. The resident will participate in the pediatric antimicrobial stewardship review, renal review, and anticoagulation monitoring for the Children’s Hospital. Opportunities for rounding independently with the inpatient teams and participating in outpatient clinics are also available for the advanced resident. 

Research Project Management - J. Lacie Bradford, PharmD, BCPS

Residents will gain experience in research by completing a clinical practice-related project of publishable quality. The residents will complete an extensive literature review, data collection and statistical evaluation while learning how to lead a research project. Residents will formally present their research projects at the Southeastern Residency Conference at the end of the residency year and complete a written manuscript. Residents will work closely with a project team that will assist and support them at every step of the research process.

Surgical/Trauma ICU - Breanna Carter, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, BCCCP

On this rotation, residents will act as the drug therapy specialist for the Surgical/Trauma Critical Care Team. Residents will actively participate in daily bedside rounds with a team comprised of an attending surgeon, surgical critical care fellow, and surgery/orthopedic surgery/emergency medicine residents and pharmacy students. Residents may have the opportunity to precept pharmacy students, respond to trauma activations, and participate in weekly topic discussions.

Ambulatory Care Rotations

Residents will complete a required four-week learning experience at either the Family Medicine Clinic or the Erlanger Community Health Centers.

Ambulatory Care I: Family Medicine Clinic - J. Lacie Bradford, PharmD, BCPS

Rotation responsibilities consist of opportunities for continuity of care with medication therapy management, chronic disease state management, and patient counseling in the outpatient Family Medicine Clinic. The pharmacy resident will also be responsible for assisting the physician with pharmacotherapy plan development for the management of chronic disease states and executing the plan with the patient. This may include individual patient appointments with the pharmacy resident or joint appointments with clinic physician staff to help ensure safe and effective medication use for all patients seen at the clinic. Additional routine responsibilities include reconciling medications, review of medications for efficacy and safety, therapeutic drug monitoring, patient and caregiver counseling, response to drug information questions, assisting with prior authorization approval and patient access to medications, and education to other healthcare professionals.

Ambulatory Care I: UT Internal Medicine Clinic - Brandy Hollums, PharmD, BCPS

Rotation responsibilities consist of opportunities for continuity of care with medication therapy management, chronic disease state management, and patient counseling in the outpatient UT Internal Medicine Clinic. The pharmacy resident will be responsible for developing a pharmacotherapy plan for the management of chronic disease states and executing the plan with the patient. This includes one-on-one patient appointments with the pharmacy resident with the opportunity for joint appointments with medical residents or clinic physicians to help ensure safe and effective medication use for all patients seen at the clinic. Additional routine responsibilities include reconciling medications, review of medications for efficacy and safety, therapeutic drug monitoring, patient and caregiver counseling, response to drug information questions, assisting with prior authorization approval and patient access to medications, and education to other healthcare professionals.

HIV Clinic - Cyle White, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP; Jay Sizemore, MD

The HIV Clinic rotation is an elective four-week learning experience. The purpose of the rotation is to help the resident develop expert skills and competency in the care of patients with HIV. Residents will spend time caring for patients in both the inpatient setting at the Baroness Erlanger Campus as well as the outpatient CEMPA HIV Clinic. The majority of the learning experience will focus on outpatient management of patients with HIV. HIV clinic partners include an Infectious Diseases Physician and Advanced Practice Nurse Practitioner, as well as multidisciplinary team that includes nurses and case managers. Rotation responsibilities will include participation in daily rounds, provision of medication therapy management, and counseling to patients about HIV and chronic disease state management. Communication skills, both oral and written, are essential during the rotation due to frequent interactions with other members of the healthcare team. Higher level learning will be demonstrated through literature review and evaluation, patient presentations, and direct patient care. Upon completion of the rotation, the resident will have the necessary skills and experience to holistically manage patients with HIV.